ZB Commodore 8sp VS 9sp.

[87VLCALAIS]

He's just representing the opinion of old school Commodore owners, a lot of which frequent this forum. My opinion is that the tests they used were heavily skewed in favour of RWD cars so the outcome was never in doubt.

If it was something like who has the best equipment spec, the best fuel economy, or who is the fastest point to point car in wet conditions, the outcome would be a different forgone conclusion.

Yes, he represents some of the old school Commodore owners but not all. I suspect I've owned a Commodore longer than he has and consider myself a typical Commodore owner. I saved really hard and bought my first one brand new in 1979 as a 21 year old and have owned Commodores ever since. VB SL, VC SL , VL Calais, VY S , now the ZB RSV and my wife has a VE SV6 Z series. Over 40 years of Commodores. Some people may say that is rather sad.

Why did I buy a Commodore at the start? Because it was a decent sized 6 cylinder car with good handling. It was a car you could get into and drive several hundred kilometres with ease, carry a good load and easily tow a well laden trailer without getting puffed.

The ZB does all that anywhere as well as any of the other Commodores I have owned and as far as ride, handling and performance it is easily the best of them all.

I agree the the test was purely designed to be in favour of the other two cars. Head to head on a windy road especially in the wet the ZB would walk away. I suspect even on a dry race track the SS would struggle to stay in front.

As an aside, it was interesting when the VB Commodore replaced the Kingswood and all the comments about the Commodore not really being a Holden with it's European (Opel) roots. Oh how the wheel turns.

 

[Fredbasset]

I have a 8-speed ZB Diesel. When downshifting, say from 80kmh to 30 kmh (e.g. at a busy city exit ramp) over say 300m distance, the gear box can get "lumpy"; slight juddering - not particularly annoying but certainly noticeable.

 

[2006VERallySport]

Greetings lads,
To get straight to the point, I am now looking to buy a new car and I am very strict with gearbox reliability. This is mainly because I drive an Audi A5 Coupe with the 7 speed dct and it had my wallet bankrupt a few times.
As you may all know, ZBs are released with 2 different transmissions. The 8sp from Aisin on diesel and the 9sp from GM on the petrol. I was surprised to see how reviews from domestic drivers are the exact opposite from the none Aussie drivers. There are numerous articles on how the GM 9sp was not meant to be for the v6 AWD models because it cannot handle the 400nm torque from the 2lt turbo diesel engine. So 400nm is not okay but 381nm from the v6 is okay? Hmm, other article also says that the 9speed was rejected by Ford to be used and many more articles that says the 8sp is the superior. I am not too sure on this but it seems like V6 ZB Commodores are sold with a different transmission in other countries, under a different name such as Buick Regal or Insignia.

I plan to get a V6 zb commodore, VXR trim most likely. I look forward to hearing feedbacks from other ZB Commodore owners on gearbox reliability or dynamic aspect of it, or anything really that I should know. Should I really be that concerned?

BTW, as far as I know ZB commodore v6 LGX engine is shared to the v6 Chevy Camaro, (although with a different gearbox) and it seems like they have plenty of mods for this engine. I know we cannot expect the same here in Australia but i barely see any performance mods the ZB. Is that mainly because of the 9sp gearbox in V6s? or simply low in demand?

I have a 2018 RS V6 AWD with 130,000 on the odometer . It’s an ex South Australian police car . I love my car and it was the perfect car for me, until last Sunday when it started freewheeling about thirty seconds after I would pull out form a stop .
I had it towed to my local Holden authorised dealer where I’ve always had it serviced and they rang me today saying that it has had a complete mechanical failure and that they would contact Holden for permission to replace it , as it’s still under warranty . He told me after the order is approved, it will take 3-4 days for the replacement.
My worry is if the new unit will fail in another four years, or if the defects have been fixed in the newer transmissions

 

[StrayKiwi]

I had it towed to my local Holden authorised dealer where I’ve always had it serviced and they rang me today saying that it has had a complete mechanical failure and that they would contact Holden for permission to replace it , as it’s still under warranty .

Replace the engine or the car?

 

[2006VERallySport]

Replace the engine or the car?

The 9 spd transmission